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Placenta Harmed By Cocaine And Heroin
Cocaine and heroin increase permeability of the placenta. Researchers writing in BioMed Central"s open access journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology have shown that exposure to the drugs causes an increase in the passage of some chemicals into the fetus.

Campaign Countdown For Voices Of Industry
The UK"s life sciences companies have just two days remaining to tell the Government what it can do to help them succeed, as medical and healthcare industry specialist MedilinkWM brings its Voices of Industry Campaign to fruition.
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SCOTUS Ruling Reversing Decision From Sotomayor's Court Not Expected To Affect Nomination
The Supreme Court"s 5-4 reversal of a decision endorsed by a three-judge appellate panel that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is attracting criticism from the judge"s conservative opponents but is not expected to have a significant effect on delaying her confirmation, the Washington Post reports. The appellate panel in 2008 upheld New Haven, Conn."s decision to discard a promotion test for firefighters after no blacks and only two Hispanics qualified for advancement after taking the test (Markon/Kane, Washington Post, 6/30). The panel"s ruling affirmed a lower court"s decision that the city had a right to discard the test based on a segment of civil rights law involving actions that have a "disparate impact" on minorities. A group of white and Hispanic firefighters who would have received promotions under the test sued, alleging reverse discrimination. Democrats and legal analysts said that Sotomayor was following legal precedent in the 2008 ruling and that it was the Supreme Court, which has the ability to exercise more discretion, that chose to make law by reversing the decision (Friedman, CongressDaily, 6/29). The Supreme Court typically reverses about 75% of the cases it reviews, according to legal experts. The court previously has reversed four of Sotomayor"s rulings and upheld three of her decisions, the Post reports. Tom Goldstein, a lawyer and founder of the SCOTUSblog Web site, said, "I don"t think it will persuade anybody who is inclined one way or another to change their views about Sotomayor" (Washington Post, 6/30). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "The main charge against Sotomayor is that she will be an activist judge, but this decision clearly shows that she won"t." He said that the results of the case "won"t change things a wit," adding that "in fact, it bolsters (the claim) that she is mainstream" (CongressDaily, 6/29). Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the New Haven case "sharpens our focus on [Sotomayor"s] troubling speeches and writings" that "indicate ... that personal experiences and political views should influence a judge"s decisions." He added that the issue "will clearly be the subject of questioning" at Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing, which is scheduled to begin on Monday (Phillips, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/29).
Diagnostics

Race Plays Role In Diagnosis And Treatment

CNN reports that African Americans and whites are treated differently by doctors. "While it"s extremely difficult to tell in any given situation how much race -- consciously or unconsciously -- plays a role in a doctor"s decision making, multiple studies over several decades have found doctors make different decisions for black patients and white patients even when they have the same medical problems and the same insurance." For example, "In a study conducted in 2007, Harvard researchers showed doctors a vignette about a 50-year-old man with chest pain who arrived at the emergency room, where an EKG showed he"d had a heart attack. Sometimes the researchers paired the medical history with a photo of black man and other times with a photo of a white man. The doctors were significantly more likely to recommend lifesaving drugs when they thought the patient was white than when they thought the patient was black" (Cohen, 7/23). In other news, "recently released statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that minority groups experience obesity at even greater levels than their white counterparts," The Milwaukee Health Examiner/Examiner reports. "According to the July 17 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, blacks have a 51 percent greater prevalence of obesity than whites. Hispanics also experience a greater percentage of obesity than whites with a 21 percent higher prevalence, according to the CDC publication." One possible explanation is that "in many cases these populations do not have adequate access to health information and services. Minority populations with high levels of obesity tend to live in areas where there is limited access to recreational activities, few options for healthy foods and lower levels of health education." In addition, "geography appears to have a significant impact on minority obesity rates" for blacks, whites and Hispanics (Koshuta, 7/23). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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